Aside from two-goal Kevin Phillips, who entered the fray in the 63rd minute, Craig Gardner and Keith Fahey also did their bit.

“The three subs were terrific,” said McLeish. “Sometimes it goes for you as a manager, sometimes it doesn’t.

“But I felt we needed fresh legs.

“At half-time I said ‘look, there’s 45 minutes, you’ve got a reputation for your perseverance and your will to win, right to the very end, the final whistle’.

“But we still started a wee bit flat in the second-half, Wolves had a wee bit of territory again, too much for my liking, and we had to make changes.

“We felt we had to give Kevin a right good crack at it. He was coming on regardless of Chucho getting his injury and it was great to see Kevin doing what he did, and the other two guys gave us the extra energy that was required.

“Craig made good contributions on the right-hand side. He was bursting to play.

“We know what Keith can do. To have guys like these to come on, fantastic.”

McLeish admitted that he was disappointed Blues didn’t build on their blitz of Wolves at the beginning of the contest.

Kevin Doyle opened the scoring in the 42nd minute after the visitors had gained a secure foothold, aided by Blues tailing off and some carelessness.

“We started great,” said McLeish. ”I thought it was a great first ten, 15 minutes. Wolves did really well to keep us out.

“But we pinned them back, we made chances, we just didn’t have that killer touch. They crept back into the game.

“After 20 minutes they bedded in and we started to concede some silly free-kicks; that was very dangerous. It gave them a bit of territory and confidence.

“Were we a bit nervous, anxious? I’m not sure. It was some self-inflicted stuff from us and I felt a goal was maybe coming with the way they were going at it.

“We didn’t play the percentage ball we should have at times, I felt we tried to be too clever.

“And, at the end of the day, although getting them in at half-time helped, the substitutions definitely made a difference to us, they gave us a different dynamic. It was certainly what we needed to get the result.”